Have a creative idea, sit down and enjoy a bowl of soup

By Ian Perrotta

There’s a new project being stirred up in Hamtramck. It’s called Diverse(soup)city and it’s looking to fund your idea.

Diverse(soup)city is the brainchild of about a dozen Hamtramckans – all under the age of 30 – who are interested in helping develop creative projects within the city. Essentially, it is a monthly dinner group that will vote on how to divide the money raised by each night’s $7 entrance fee. Diverse(soup)city is modeled after a similar venture called Detroit Soup.

The first meeting of Diverse(soup)city – named so because of the diversity found within Hamtramck – will be held at Maria’s Comida on Sunday, Feb. 20 from 6 to 9 p.m., and regular meetings will be held every third Sunday thereafter.

In addition to offering a hearty meal of soup, salad, bread and desert, the goal is to provide a forum for people to meet and network with other residents, business owners and anyone from outside the community who is interested in supporting the city. And feel free to speak easy with your fellow diners — it’s a bring-your-own-beer event.

For anyone interested in proposing an idea, the parameters are pretty wide-open. To qualify, all a project must do is to benefit the city in some way. Funding for the first micro-grant has already been secured by a generous business owner who has donated money to not only pay for the project, but also to help cover the cost of marketing the idea and spreading the word.

“The community is really coming together already for this great event,” says Marie Pronko, co-owner of Maria’s Comida and a founding organizer of Diverse(soup)city. “It has definitely created a lot more buzz then we anticipated and we are just getting started.”

For more information check out www.diversesoupcity.com. Anyone interested in submitting project proposals for micro-grant funding can submit them to Diversesoupcity@gmail.com by the Friday before each Diverse(soup)city dinner or in person at Maria’s Comida.

What is Diverse(soup)city?

SOUP is…
a collaborative situation
a public dinner
a theatrical environment
a platform for performance
a local experiment in micro-funding
a relational hub connecting various creative communities
a forum for critical discussion
an opportunity to support creative people in Hamtramck

One Response to Have a creative idea, sit down and enjoy a bowl of soup

  1. Pingback: Around the Pot: Soup as community, part 2 « Soup and Bread

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